Funerals of a Different Kind
by synodicstar
Summary: Everyone mourns and honors the dead in different ways. As the Tojo Clan holds a funeral, others pay their respects in private. Date is caught in the middle with a secret. Post Yakuza 6, with spoilers for the ending.


"If that bastard is dead, then I'm a dancin' pop star," Majima said. He flicked his cigarette into the carefully manicured bushes in the courtyard of the Tojo Clan headquarters. No one else would say it, would express their denial. It was impossible to imagine a world without the Dragon of Dojima's stolid, steady presence.

Saejima scowled at his brother's flippant attitude and bent to pick up the smoking butt, putting it in a receptacle in a corner of the courtyard. Majima glared back before lighting up again.

"The detective confirmed it," Daigo said. He rose from the bench and the others followed him. "He was one of the fourth chairman's closest confidants. If he says that Kiryu is dead, then it's not our place to dispute it." He didn't look over his shoulder at them as he stood and began the long walk to the car waiting for them outside. The funeral had ended hours ago, but a few members were still lingering. Daigo waved them off when they bowed and tried to approach.

"Chairman-"

Their chauffeur opened the car door for them and the three of them piled in. Majima watched the man outside as they pulled away. He looked angry. Even if Tojo operations were on hold while they were in mourning, Daigo would need to address the tensions that were brewing behind the scenes sooner or later. Not everyone was going to be happy with this alliance.

Majima crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the floorboard impatiently. Mourning never suited him. He was ready to go.

Daigo showed no such anxiety. "If the fourth chairman were alive and chose not to reveal himself to us, then that is his decision," Daigo said, addressing Majima's earlier comment. "I will choose to believe Date until then."

Majima frowned deeply as he took moved closer to Saejima and offered him a smoke. Saejima raised his hand to decline.

It wasn't like Kiryu to run away from a fight, to leave business unfinished. It was almost like he was really dead. Majima shook his head and resisted the urge to laugh. No, he wasn't dead. He would feel it in his gut if he were. They were linked, the Mad Dog and the Dragon, and there would be something wrong with the world if they became unbalanced. Daigo could accept it if he wanted, but Majima never would.

"He would have been honored by the funeral," Saejima remarked. His eyes were directed out the window, but they weren't focusing on anything. "The entire clan showed up. Funny how he never had that many friends in life."

"That? Nah," Majima said. "Kiryu never cared for Tojo pomp and circumstance." He thought of the people that Kiryu attracted to him with his strange magnetism, the groups of friends who would lay down their lives for him without question. Kiryu hadn't been Tojo, not anymore, and neither were his allies. They would know how to honor him the right way. "All he would have wanted was for us to pour out a drink for him and move on."

Saejima loosed the black tie around his neck. "How are we going to keep this clan together without him?"

Daigo finally looked down to meet their eyes. There was a familiar certainty in them that made Majima want to grin. It reminded him of Kiryu. There was still some life in the Tojo Clan's chairman yet. "The same way we've done it since the fourth chairman stepped down," Daigo said. "We'll try our best to show that we're worthy of him."

###

Date watched Haruka as she bent to light the candle beside Kiryu's picture on the end of the bar. She looked so small and pale in her black dress. Her eyes were lined with red, but there were no tears in sight. He nodded his head. She was a good girl. He felt a twinge of guilt that her grief was for nothing.

She stood and the boy handed their son back to her. Usami Yuta, once heir to the Saio Triad. Date would keep an eye on him in Kiryu's place, one of the many things he had promised during their last meeting.

"Can't believe it," the captain of the Hirose family, Nagumo said. There were tears in his eyes, shameless ones that tracked marks down his cheeks. "Aniki…"

He was just the kind of guy that Kiryu would have picked up. The entire Hirose family, tiny as it was, crowded around the bar. They were strays, just like Date. It was remarkable, how they were all bound together by this one man.

"How about drinks?" Akiyama said, raising a bottle from where he sat in the corner. Another one of Haruka's fierce protectors. She and her son would never want for father figures. Between him, Date, and Yuta, she hadn't been alone since she was released from the hospital.

"Date?" Akiyama repeated. A local woman, Kiyomi, was passing around glasses to everyone. "You've been quiet. Everything okay?"

Date took his glass and tipped the alcohol down his throat. Damn Kiryu for making him keep this secret. He was going to have to take a long vacation far away from these people if he was going to do this. He nodded to Akiyama. "Yeah," he replied, wishing he had another drink already.

"Where is the Hirose family going to go from here?" Akiyama asked, turning his attention away from Date after a calculating look.

Nagumo shook his head and pushed his way out of the bar.

"Well, we kinda burned every bridge," Tagashira replied in place of his captain. "We'll lie low for a while and go from there."

"What about you, Yuta?" Akiyama asked.

Yuta and Haruka exchanged a look that wasn't lost on Date. "I'm going to accompany Haruka to Okinawa. After that…" He smiled hesitantly at Haruka and she returned it shyly.

"Good for you, kids." Akiyama poured another drink for himself and Date. "Something pleasant out of all this terrible business." He looked over the rim of his glass and toasted them. "Right?"

"Right," Date said, raising his own glass. His stomach twisted unpleasantly. Secrets never sat well with him. He looked at Kiryu's picture, feeling disgusted with himself, and hoped his friend knew what he was doing.

###

Haruka and Yuta arrived in Okinawa a few days later. They walked hand in hand down the roughly paved road. Yuta's eyes were on the ocean, but Haruka only saw her home.

Home. She had always thought next time she came back, it would be with Uncle Kaz at her side. Never alone, never as a mother.

Haruto plucked at her earlobe, forcing a smile from her. No, not alone. She squeezed Yuta's hand. Whatever they had between them, they could recover from the deaths of their fathers together.

The children at the orphanage met her with both joy and grief. After she had called ahead, they had prepared Kiryu's room for her, putting an old crib in the corner. She dropped her bag by the door and padded in her socks to the mattress. She sat on the side of it and rested her head on her knees. Haruto babbled beside her.

It felt wrong to be in there. There were still signs of _him_ everywhere she looked-a wall he repaired when Taichi put his leg through it, his lighter abandoned on top of the wardrobe-higher than she could reach-the clothesline outside the window where they would hurry to bring in the laundry before a storm. Little signs of domesticity, glimpses of the man Kiryu had been when he wasn't fighting for their lives.

The youngest, Izumi, pulled on Haruka's hand, bringing her out of her reverie. Haruka put Haruto in the crib before following. In the corner of the main room, they had set up an altar on a small table, overflowing with sunflowers and blooms. Smoky incense curled away from it. Framed between the candles was a picture of their father. It was an old picture, one snapped years ago by Haruka with a disposable camera. It was from an uncharacteristically unguarded moment. The sun was in his eyes and he was smiling-a capture of a happier time.

Haruka fell to her knees before it and finally let the tears go. The children, teenagers now, stood around her, putting their hands on her shoulders. They mourned together for their family that was lost, and their family who was found.

When she stood, she saw Yuta standing in the door with Haruto in his arms. He looked uncertain, an intruder in a private moment.

"We'll… we'll go for a walk," he said, nodding his head towards the front.

Haruka shook her head and wordlessly held out her arms to them. Yuta crossed the room and put his arm around her. Haruka buried her face against Haruto's sweet-smelling head. "Please stay," she said. Haruto whimpered in her ear.

"Are you sure?" Yuta asked hesitantly. "You don't owe me anything."

"Mm." Haruka nodded.

"Then I'll stay."

###

"Where will you go?" Date asked the man standing beside him. There were at a taxi stop in Kamurocho, waiting for the right moment to say their goodbyes. A cab driver kept eyeing them expectantly.

Kiryu shrugged. "Somewhere quiet. Somewhere I can disappear." He had only a small bag with him, the effects of a life lived on the move. He fished a pack of cigarettes from the front pocket of his shirt and offered one to Date before lighting up. The crowds around them offered anonymity, but he still looked on edge.

"That doesn't seem like your style. It's never worked before." Date inhaled deeply, letting the smoke tickle his throat before blowing it back out in a long stream.

"I always had ties to bring me back before. This time it's real." Kiryu leaned back against a shuttered storefront. His cigarette dangled between his lips, forgotten.

Date wondered if he even enjoyed the momentary buzz of nicotine, or if it was just a habit that was too hard to break. Personally, smoking didn't do much for him. He dropped his cigarette and ground it underfoot. "You owe it to those kids to come back someday."

"You know I can't."

"Just promise me you'll think about it."

Kiryu shook his head. "Haruka will move on. She has Haruto and Yuta now. She doesn't need washed-up old man hanging around." His voice was carefully neutral.

"I don't think she would agree with that." Date knew he was one of the few people who would call out the Dragon of Dojima on his bullshit. It was tiring, but someone had to do it.

"Every man has to let go of his daughter someday. You of all people should know that, Date."

A shot straight to the heart. Date thought of his own daughter, an adult now with her own life that only intersected occasionally with his own.

"See you around," Kiryu said while Date was lost in thought. He shouldered his bag and hailed a taxi.

"Wait-" Date called after him, "What am I supposed to tell them if they keep asking about you?"

"Whatever you feel is best," Kiryu said. He disappeared into the cab.

Date watched Kiryu leave, conflict in his heart. The man was doing what was best for the people he loved, but did he have to be such an idiot about it? Thanks to him, Date would have to carry this secret for the rest of his life.

He rubbed a weary hand over his face. Yeah, he was going to take that vacation after all. Somewhere quiet sounded nice.


End file.
